Antique Miniature Chinese Reverse Painting on Glass Circa 1880 Chinoiserie

We were instantly smitten by this wonderful combination of duck egg blue and luxury gilt!! It is the perfect interior designer's piece or antique artwork for your home. This small painting on old bubbled glass was painted in China around the 1860 to 1880 period. It is a Chinese reverse glass painting, which was a traditional art form where oil or gouache paints were applied to the back of a glass sheet, allowing the finished image to be viewed from the unpainted front face. This technique required the artist to paint details in reverse order—starting with the foreground highlights and finishing with the background.

Our little scene depicts a traditional scholarly or courtly male figure resting in an outdoors setting. He is dressed in an ornate, patterned salmon-pink robe, wearing an official headdress with streaming ribbons, and reclining against a large red and blue storage jar or vessel in a stylized landscape. The painting is framed in the most wonderful, and very substantial antique gilt frame featuring intricate floral scrollwork, acanthus leaves, and repeating ornamental cartouches. Complete with old framer's label to the reverse.

We guarantee that you will love it.

Size: Frame approx 9 inch tall by 9 1/4 inch wide by 1 1/4 inch (22.5 cm by 23.5 cm by3 cm). Painting size:4 inch by 4 1/2 inch (10 cm by 11.5 cm)

Condition: Very good. This is a genuine antique Victorian reverse painting it is showing signs of age. There are areas of flaked paint to the sky area top right corner. The frame has very minor age abrasion to the composition mouldings.

This is a breath taking little painting that we are excited to settle with its next guardian.

Item: 16674